I’m excited to officially announce that my solo art exhibition, Onion City Memories, will be coming to Connect Gallery in Chicago on January 16th, 2026.

📍 Location: Connect Gallery 1451 E 53rd Street Chicago IL
📅 Opening Night: January 16, 2026
🗓️ Exhibition Dates: January 16 – February 27, 2026

Welcome to Onion City

Onion City Memories invites you into Onion City, a fictional parallel world inspired by Chicago and other places I’ve lived in and traveled through. It’s a world built from memory, emotion, and lived experience — layered, complex, and constantly evolving.

Through my original characters, I explore:

· emotional highs and lows

· internal struggles and personal victories

· identity, resilience, and growth

Each artwork is narrative-driven, functioning like a panel in a larger storyboard. Individual pieces stand on their own, but together they form a broader, interconnected story — blending fine art painting with comic book illustration and visual storytelling.

About the Exhibition

Onion City Memories is designed as an elevated creative experience, merging contemporary narrative art, illustration, and world-building. This show brings together my original characters, concepts, and visual language into one cohesive space — allowing viewers to step fully into the world of Onion City.

My goal is not just to exhibit artwork, but to:

· immerse attendees in a living narrative

· bridge the gap between gallery art and comics

· spark curiosity about what comes next in the expanding world of Onion City

This exhibition is both a reflection on memory and a preview of future stories yet to be told.

Mark Your Calendar

📌 Opening Night: January 16, 2026
📌 On View Through: February 27, 2026
📌 Where: Connect Gallery, Chicago

You may have experienced this exhibition a couple years ago but I’m so excited to bring it to a new space for a new audience to experience. I invite all those who have seen the exhibit before to come check it out again in 2026!

In the meantime, check out this video collection of the behind the scenes process of creating some of the pieces for this exhibition!

Thank you for continuing to support my work and this ever-growing world.

See you in Onion City,

Muddy

Onion City Memories, an art exhibition by Muddy AKA @MahmudTheMedium. This exhibition will bring attendees into Muddy’s world of Onion City, where all his original characters, concepts, and creations exist. Onion City is a futuristic alternate reality heavily inspired by Chicago and other places that Muddy has lived in and visited. Each piece will be a window into specific moments and memories of the original characters inhibiting this world. This exhibition will be an elevated creative experience bringing narrative driven fine art and comic book illustration together to engage attendees and leave you all with a lasting curiosity about what will come next.

If you haven’t heard yet, after 3 months of hard work, we finally have a date for the release of my next art book. I’m so excited to announce that on April 27th I will be launching a Kickstarter campaign for my new 124 page art book “Reaching New Heights”!

The art book will include a 2020 compilation of my raw sketches, a step-by-step character drawing tutorial, my favorite marker & ink drawings, digital artwork, traditional paintings, creative projects, and the prologue to my first comic book!

The Kickstarter campaign includes 9 reward tiers with various bundle package options! I've really worked hard to put together a bunch of exclusive rewards that will only be available through this Kickstarter.

Mark your calendars, tell your friends and family, because everyone who backs this project will get their name printed in the special shoutout section of the art book! I hope to see you all on April 27th.

Your support will ensure the success of this project! See you then!

Mahmud